Planning for Buckhead Village under way

Plans for revamping Buckhead Village area are taking shape, as community members try to imagine a future that combines a high-profile development with an overhaul of the intersection of Roswell and Peachtree roads.

On Sept. 7, the Buckhead Community Improvement District held a public meeting at the Atlanta International School. Its consultant, Kimley-Horn and Associates, invited residents to brainstorm ideas about ways to improve the intersection and the surrounding streets.

Meanwhile, San Diego, Calif.-based developer Oliver McMillan plans a mixed-use shopping district at the intersection of Peachtree and East Paces Ferry roads, slated to open in 2013.

“There’s some development coming in, and we know we have to race ahead of it and also come up with some good long-term solutions,” Buckhead CID capital projects manager Brian McHugh told the residents gathered at the meeting.

The purpose of the plan would be promoting redevelopment of the area, but also make the area friendly to pedestrians and bicyclists, McHugh said.

Tom Senkbeil said he’d like to see the area adopt the model used by Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C.

“It’s a little difficult to talk about the street until you know what the buildings will become,” Senkbeil said. “Dupont Circle, I think that’s smart. If you’re trying to get through there, you go underneath it.”

Jim Hamilton, a civil engineer in Atlanta, said safety would be his top priority.

“To me, this is a neighborhood, and we have a lot of cars coming through,” Hamilton said. “We have to find a balance.”

On Sept. 19, McHugh said Kimley-Horn is still compiling the comments from the meeting. There’s another meeting planned for October to discuss the project further, he said. He said one suggestion included bisecting one block of the area and bringing a road through it, but declined to be more specific.

“It’s just such at an infancy level,” McHugh said. “I’d have to see if that makes sense from a traffic standpoint. We can go public when there’s any thought of public funds being used for that.”

According to Kimley-Horn, a final concept for the Buckhead Village area will be chosen in December. The concept would include a 10-year vision with both short and long-term goals, the consultant said.